work ..work never ending work..

I have been burning it at both ends as the old saying goes these past days since writing last...here is a shot of a mat I finished in my so called down time.."When will you marry" after Paul Gauguin ,years ago when my younger sister married I did a "Gauguin" "Sisters Wedding Day" if I remember the title correctly. It was of one sister combing the hair of her younger sister on her wedding day. Much thought and research was given before doing it and I feel it was very appropriate , special gifts should be just that, something homemade or anything with much thought behind it,as I see it.

Speaking of that, my brain is in gear with plans of doing my older sis a special mat for her birthday to rest on her cottage floor in Summerville. More details on that as it gets closer to Nov. 7th. Also I have been finishing up another couple of mats but right now I will keep them from the blog for now , I am in thought as to what I want to do with them. If anyone would like to view what I have done so far, please call or drop in if my open gallery sign is up. End of season ,left over commission stock has returned and I have a few Xmas products at a very reasonable price as well. The Summer Tourist season was pretty good for my paintings that were out on commission but unlike past years, seldom do I see Christmas product return, hard to believe it but Christmas items do sell in the Summer. Then again it seems by the stores it gets displayed earlier and earlier each year. Here I am in the selling business, will pretty well make you what ever you want and I for one seldom darken the door of these box stores, going to a large Mall or store makes my head spin,it always has...I remember years ago we were doing an art show in a large expensive Mall, I won't say where , it was a special show and only a few speciality shops were open along with the art show, me being and always have been a hat person went into this fancy boutique store when I saw what I thought was the straw hat of my dreams, grabbing it excitedly from the shelf and seeing no price tag, I then asked the clerk "how much?" she replied "$175.00 "yup!!!that much, my response to her answer as I was putting the hat back on the shelf was"does it come with a brain?" I thought she was going to pee herself laughing, me thinking that she would be angry with my comment..not so.....we both had a great laugh and she then came out later that day and bought a painting from me .My step daughter just got a job at "Michael's" art supply store on PEI...I so envy her, I am like a kid in a candy store when let loose in such a place. I remember years ago we would make special trips into the industrial Park in Dartmouth just for "Michael's" these days, online or the art store in Bridgewater. So back to why I have been burning it at both ends, I try, and do succeed most days to sit at my easel but with Winter on it's way ,feeling it in the air and knowing very well when it changes it may change quickly,during these fine days we decided to put all away, taken care of Months of turmoil here there and everywhere in this tiny house and are ready with all my hooked mats cleaned and put away from where the puppy we puppy sit can't play and pull them apart, because of her I started making the cushion floor mats..Thanks Belle.

I remember back in the very early 1970's my Mom died in "73, she and I worked at a local Dept store together here in town which I have written about before. She bought many ,many carpet ends , small mats in all different colors at this Dept .store , they were selling for like 99 cents a piece or cheaper,she and I sat at the cottage one weekend and sewed all these mats together and made a wonderful multi color shag carpet which covered the livingroom floor. We would spring and fall clean the old place together ,at that time there was a collection of bottles from all over the world along the top ledge of the ceiling and we would wash every one of those bottles, today this cottage belongs to my sister and she is smart enough not to have all this stuff to dust, on the other hand I was blessed or should I say ?cursed with Mom's love of stuff...and I have been dusting here for days and I can see clearly now.

I had someone the other day remind me of how much I recycle and have been ever since I was a small child and when I was a teenager I would take from the attic my Mom's old dresses and rebuild them with less length being the 60's and adorn them with lace, to create a new garment. When Chuck and I married ,my wedding dress was made from an antique lace curtain , I did it in such a way so that after the wedding I returned it back into a curtain for our home, I know I should have saved it, but I do have pictures.I took the two lace panels ,folded them down on the outside when I got my desired length ,I tacked them together at the shoulders and cut the one in front to make it look like a dress with a jacket, my under dress was made from a pretty pink satin curtain which I wore for years after.

One of these days I will put up a picture of our wedding and my dress to share here with you . Oh..Chucks wedding shoes were from the old Bills store in Mahone Bay , I forgot to remove the large orange $9.99 sale tag from the bottom of his shoes and as you can imagine when we were kneeling at the alter, all could see how much I paid for him, there was one picture taken of his shoe soles by his father who has since passed and to this day I have no idea where this picture would be, I wish I did.